Folding mop head assembly



July 1, 1958 LE R Y J. VAVRINEK FOLDING no? HEAD ASSEMBLY Filed July 1, 1953 m W J United States Pate mO FOLDING MOP HEAD ASSEMBLY Le Roy J. Vavrinek, Des Plaines, Illi, a'ssigntit to l tlkco 'ProductsCompany, Chicago, Ill.-, a'c'oi'porati'oii o'f Illinois pp tion July 1, 1953, Serial No. 365,310

3 Claims. c1. 15244) This invention relates to a mop in which a head of sponge material is foldable upon itself between hinged backing plates for squeezing moisture from the wings of the head.

It is an object of this invention to so relieve congestion of the sponge material at the line of fold between the wings of the head as to avoid expulsion of moisture in the direction of the hinge connecting the backing plates.

More specifically, the present invention has as its object the provision of a mop of the character described wherein a cavity is provided between the work engaging faces of the mop head wings, said cavity being defined by integral portions of the wings forming a bridge across the line of fold of said wings along the surfaces of the wings opposite said Work engaging surfaces.

These and other objects of this invention will appear from time to time as the following specification proceeds and with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a top perspective view of a mop featuring a mop head constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged detail of the mop head as sembly in section taken on line 2--2.

Figure 3 is a similar view showing the mop elements and backing members in position preparatory to final assembly.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the reference numbers and 11 devote a pair of matching blocklike wings of compressible absorbent material such as natural or cellulose sponge, or any other like material. These wings each present a lower work-engaging face 12 of rectangular plan substantially congruent with that of the other when the faces 12 are in confronting relation. The inwardly opposed surfaces of the wings 10 and 11 define planar faces 13 and 14 which converge in an upward direction away from the faces 12. The faces 13 and 14 accordingly cooperate to define a cavity between the work engaging surfaces 12 when the faces 13 and 14 are pressed into engagement to form a bridging portion 15 along the upper edges thereof as shown in Fig. 2 when each face 12 is arranged in a plane forming a continuation of the plane of the other face 12.

A fabric backing member of canvas or any other suitable materiai, having a layer 16 joined by cement or the like to the upper surfaces of the wings 10 and 11 provides a hinge across the joint 15 between the wings 10 and 11. A superimposed layer 16 of the backing member is stitched or otherwise secured to the layer 16 as at 13 and 19 to provide pockets in flanking relation to the joint 15. Such pockets provide traps in which stiffening strips 20 and 21 of metal or other suitable material are firmly held in position in spaced apart relation straddling the joint 15 between the wings 10 and 11. Wing nuts 23* and 24* respectively, removably applied to the projecting ends of bolts 23 and 24 fixed to the strips 20 and 21 thus provide convenient means for attachment of the mop to the plates 25 and 26 of a mop head presser plate assembly, having a hinged connection 27. The

:plates 25 and 26 with the result that the upper surfaces of the latter form relatively smooth continuations of the upper surfaces of the layers 16 of the fabric backing member, as shown in Fig. 2, when the mop element and the mop head presser plate assembly are in operative connected relation. The hinge thus provided by the fabric backing layers 16 and 16 across the joint 15 between the wings 10 and 11 is likewise thereby ofiset downwardly in relation to the top surfaces of the wings 10 and 11 which extend beyond the periphery of the area underlying the plates 25 and 26 of the presser plate assembly.

Movement of the head plates 25 and 26 between closed and opened positions according to the desired folding or unfolding of the wings 10 and 11 is accomplished by any suitable means such as a handle 28 fitted in a socket 29 fixed to the head plate 25, and a link 30 pivotally connected at one end to the head plate 26 as at 31 and at its outer end connected to the arm of a lever 32 mounted as at 33 on the handle 28 for swinging movement of the lever 32 toward and away from the handle 28.

When in use, the mop is substantially in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and the lever 32 is positioned substantially parallel to the handle 28. When it is desired to bring out the mop wings 10 and 11, it is convenient to hold the mop handle 28 in one hand and with the other hand move the lever 32 outwardly as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. This procedure causes the wings 10 and 11 to come into face-to-face engagement along the faces 13 and 14 and as the plates 25 and 26 are further moved toward a folded, juxtaposed position to be squeezed one against the other and the congestion between said faces is so relieved as to direct the fiow of moisture from the wings 10 and 11 in a direction away from the hinge 27 connecting the plates 25 and 26, and thus the accumulated dirt absorbed by the wings 10 and 11 is effectively worked out through the faces 12 of said wings.

The layers 16 and 16 of the fabric backing member preferably extend beyond the outer edges of the wings 10 and 11 to form tubular cushions or bumpers 34 which prevent the edge of the stilfening strips from having contact with furniture and the like which might otherwise be damaged by such edges of the strips. The tubular cushion 34 may be advantageously provided with a suitable core of cording or the like.

It will be understood that modifications and variations may be effected without departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the present invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A mop head comprising a pair of matching blockshaped wings of sponge material, each wing having a bottom work-engaging face substantially congruent with that of the other when such work-engaging faces are in confronting relation, and each work-engaging face being arranged in a plane forming a continuation of the plane of the other when in work-engaging position, and each wing when in said latter position presenting a planar face in opposed upwardly converging relation tov the corresponding face of the other wing to define a cavity of inverted V-shaped contour between the work engaging faces and to define a bridging portion only along a relatively narrow upper marginal portion of said opposed faces of the wings, and a hinge joining said wings at the upper limits of said bridge in downwardly offset relation to the top surfaces of said wings extending outwardly from said hinge.

stiffening members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Ballam Aug. 11, 1896 fabric backing provides pockets for the reception of 5 Schroeder Ian. 20, 1925 Thomas Aug. 5, 1941 Pippin Dec. 1, 1942 Russak Dec. 9, 1952 Channel May 11, 1954 Ours Apr. 19, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany Nov. 24, 1909 Germany Apr. 27, 1934 Norway Jan. 29, 1951 

